Last night we had a few minutes in the fellowship hall before a meeting. It isn’t often that I arrive very early for meetings, but sometimes there is just that odd amount of time and so I was checking some details on the Internet as Susan scanned the large map of the world on the wall. She noticed that there don’t seem to be many cities in South America that start with the letter d. It’s true, there do seem to be fewer cities, but most countries in South America do have several cities starting with d. A quick check of wikipedia turned out several cities, some fairly large, that just didn’t make it onto the National Geographic wall map.

We love to travel. And we love to imagine trips that we probably will never actually take. Easy access to the Internet and the prevalence of YouTube videos makes it possible to view sights that few have seen.

I heard years ago about the road between the Sichuan capital Chengdu and the Tibetan capital Lhasa. It is likely one of the world’s most adventurous bus trips. I suppose that one might attempt driving it in their own vehicle, but the challenges are enormous. It would require a very reliable 4-wheel-drive vehicle and a generous amount of cash to pay for towing when it got hopelessly stuck. It might also require more than a small amount of planning for fuel stops and repairs along the way. The bus trip probably holds enough adventure for most travelers. I am told that passengers routinely are asked to get out of the bus and walk when the road is so narrow that the bus threatens to fall over a cliff. I’m not quite sure what the passengers do if the bus does fall. I guess they are grateful not to have ridden that terrible crash, but they do have miles to go with no visible form of transportation. Passengers also are enlisted to pull the bus out of the mud when it gets stuck. I think the basic trick is that ropes are attached to strong points on the bus frame and the passengers team up, about twenty per rope to pull. When the rope breaks, the passengers are, of course, splattered with mud from the flying rope. Then there are the normal rigors of travel in such a region: altitude sickness, traveling with a bus load of people who go days without access to showers, infrequent stops for restrooms and other facilities and food that is strange to a western palate.

But, Oh, the scenery! Some of the most majestic mountains in the world, Sunrises and sunsets over towering rocky peaks that few have seen, rainbows and mounts with stupas, prayer flags, monasteries, and so much more to see. I’m thinking the trip might well be worth it. I suppose you could fly one direction instead of taking the bus both ways. Flying gives a different perspective. But that particular trip isn’t for the faint of heart, either. The airport in Daocheng is now the record holder for the airport with the highest elevation in the world.

But something tells me that one ought to travel overland to get to Shangri-La, the place of stories and imaginations. It is a real place, an alpine wonderland filled with glacial lakes. Tibetan pilgrims have been making the perilous journey for centuries. I think one ought to plan at least one night in a stone hut before touring the site for sky burials where swarming vultures swoop down to complete the cycle of life while weathered old men turn the prayer wheels that encourage the spirit to soar.

There are several other remote highways that I read about and watch pictures of, but probably won’t ever get around to traveling. The national road, a north-south highway that crosses the island of Madagascar, is known for stretches of soft sand and crumbling bridges. It takes 24 hours to go about 125 miles, unless it is the rainy season (December to March) when it is often impassable no matter how much time you have.

Rohtang Pass in India has an intriguing name that means “pile of corpses.” It is buried in snow most of the year, but opened up from May to November, though it can be buried in snow during any month of the year.

Romainia’s Transfăgărășan Road is said to have the most hairpin turns of any road on the planet. The Eyrie Highway in Australia is said to be the most likely place to strike an animal on the highway. In Nepal, the Prithvi Highway gives great views of the world’s tallest mountain. The Manakamana Temple is said to be a most impressive sight. The M65, also known as the Kolyma Highway, crosses Siberia - probably not the best road for a winter trip - is supposed to be the world’s coldest highway, though I’m not sure it could be any colder than the ice roads in Canada, which would be fun to drive at least once. The Guoliang Tunnel Road in China has some spectacular scenery, is decidedly short on guard rails, dangerously narrow for passing oncoming traffic, and a real adventure. There have been several busses that have fallen over the edges of that road as well.

I’ve traced the intercontinental drive from the Arctic Ocean at the end of the Dalton Highway in Alaska or the Dempster in Canada down the spine of the continent, through Central America on the Pan-American Highway and all the way to the tip of South America. Chile extends farther south than Argentina, but you can’t drive to those remote islands, so the farthest south to drive on a road is in Argentina. Trust me, it is a long way from Alaska.

There is far more to see in this world than one person could possibly view. And many of the adventures I can imagine are probably best traveled in my imagination. After all there are plenty of unexplored roads (and plenty of places to get stuck) right here in Western South Dakota.

And we have been granted beauty at every turn and enough adventure to keep us interested. We live in an amazing world.

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